I've campaigned for many years to increase the use of 20 mph zones in Wales. I first looked at this in 2011, and at that time there were 237 serious pedestrian casualties in Wales, and sadly that included 82 children losing their lives or being very seriously injured, and I think it's those stats that we have to keep in our minds when we're talking about this. At that time, I focused my report onto Ceredigion council to see if they could introduce more 20 mph zones in built-up areas to protect their children. At that time, six schools in Ceredigion were in a 20 mph limit zone, but there were 40 with a 30 mph limit and six schools with a 40 mph limit, and there were five that had the national speed limit right outside their door. So, I think there is a real need and a real focus, and I agree with John Griffiths, this is piece of legislation that stands on its own in terms of road safety, but I do recognise all the other advantages that everybody has built into that.

So, the numbers speak for themselves. Between 2017 and 2019, 127 people were killed in car accidents, but 1,759 people were injured and 453 were seriously injured. That is a significantly high number. 

So we get down to does speed make a difference? Well, it does, because if you're hit by a car travelling at 20 mph, you'll have a 95 per cent chance of survival. If the car is travelling at 30 mph, you'll have 80 per cent. You'll only have a 50 per cent chance of survival if you're hit by a car going at 35 mph, and if you're hit by a car going at 40 mph, you've got a 10 per cent chance of surviving. So I think it's very clear from those statistics that your chances of surviving an impact by being hit by a car greatly increase as you reduce the speed of that car, and you don't have to reduce it by significant amounts, as that demonstrated.

Part of the reason, of course, is that the faster the vehicle is travelling, the longer the distance it will need to stop. So, I'll give another example: on perfectly dry roads and in perfectly good conditions, a car or a vehicle travelling at 30 mph will need a stopping distance of 23 meters or six car lengths. At 20 mph, that will go down to half. So, speed, again, is a factor in giving both the driver and also the pedestrian an opportunity to not end up with a serious collision resulting in injury or fatality.

But I agree that it isn't speed limits alone that will solve these problems. There will be a need for adequate enforcement measures, and we will have to come to agreement on who and how those enforcements are implemented.

But the Welsh Government has, over the years, given local authorities in Wales the power to vary speed limits. It is cumbersome, as is outlined here, but we have seen authorities move ahead, like Cardiff and Swansea, for example, when the political drive has been there. We've also seen Welsh Government give money to local authorities to improve the safety outside the roads.

Yet, last year, with the newly built school in Haverfordwest, Ysgol Caer Elen, I joined parents to campaign to reduce the 30 mph speed limit to a 20 mph speed limit. So, my ask here of you, Minister, is that, when we're building new schools, built into their design is a 20 mph speed zone outside that school. It seems incredible to me that any local authority that has already implemented 20 mph speed limits outside some schools then builds a new school with a 30 mph speed limit outside it—and there's already been an accident and thankfully nobody was hurt.

I obviously support what you're doing. I'm really pleased to see that it's back on the agenda, that it is being discussed, and I know without any doubt at all, from everything that I have just said, that it has the potential to save lives.